Kenny Rogers scored the defining hit of his career when he released “The Gambler” in 1978, but he was not the first artist to record the song. Another well-known star cut it before him, and another legend recorded it at the same time he did,

Vocalist Kenny Rogers, who dominated the pop and country charts in the 1970s and 1980s with a string of sleekly tailored hits and won three Grammys, has died. He was 81. Rogers “passed away peacefully at home from natural causes under the care of hospice ...